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Jesuit Mission and Submission explains how the Jesuits entered the Manchu world after the Manchus conquered Beijing in 1644. Supported by Qing court archives, the book discovers the Jesuits’ Manchu-style master-slave relationship with the Kangxi emperor. Against the backdrop of this relationship, the book reconstructs the back and forth negotiations between Kangxi and the Holy See regarding Chinese Rites Controversy (1705-1721), and shows that the Jesuits, although a group of foreign priests, had close access to Kangxi and were a trusted part of the Imperial circle. This book also redefines the rise and fall of the Christian mission in the early Qing court through key events, such as the Calendar Case and Yongzheng’s prohibition of Christianity.
Price: $53.00
Pages: 230
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: East and West
Publication Date:
11 March 2021
ISBN: 9789004447004
Format: Hardcover
"Jesuit Mission and Submission by Swen Litian is a thought-provoking, intelligently researched and presented, and very timely publication that I would advise all students of early Qing China and of the Jesuit missionary enterprise to read without delay." -Lars Peter Laamann, SOAS, University of London Journal of Jesuit Studies, 157-160.
"Litian Swen's work Jesuit Mission and Submission expands our understanding of the oft-celebrated Qing-era Jesuit missions through a thorough reorientation of the Jesuit experience as part of preexisting Manchu cultural traditions. By expanding the early modern cultural-conflicts paradigm by situating it in the context of Manchu culture, rather than the traditional Chinese-Western dichotomy, Swen brings a new perspective to well-trod historiographical ground... This work represents a significant shift in our understanding of cultural conflicts in early modern China." -Ashleigh Ikemoto, Georgia College and State University, The Journal of Asian Studies, 187-188.
"Swen's persistent focus on individuals (particularly emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng) and their family network also serves to explain how occurrences that elude historical patterns such as coincidences, personal choices, and unpredictable events can all contribute to shape history. It is in this light that Swen recommends historians to reassess the rise and fall of the Jesuit mission to China so as to provide a fresh perspective on a narrative otherwise focused on its inevitable failure. Such an original and well-documented argument, alongside the author’s meticulous analysis of the sources, are only two of the elements that make Swen’s study a valuable and welcome contribution to the field." -Giulia Falato, University of Oxford, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 692-695.
"The combination of striking success and dramatic failure of the Jesuit missionaries as advisors to the seventeenth and eighteenth century Chinese imperial court has long attracted the attention of historians. Jesuit Mission and Submission by Swen Litian 孫立天 represents the latest effort to explain the dynamics of this unique historical relationship. As a revision of his dissertation (2019) and as a first book, it is a very impressive effort. The most successful part of the book deals with Swen’s attempt to show how the nature of the Beijing Jesuits’ relationship to the imperial court changed at the time of the Ming–Qing transition." -D. E. Mungello, Baylor University, Monumenta Serica, Journal of Oriental Studies
"Litian Swen's work Jesuit Mission and Submission expands our understanding of the oft-celebrated Qing-era Jesuit missions through a thorough reorientation of the Jesuit experience as part of preexisting Manchu cultural traditions. By expanding the early modern cultural-conflicts paradigm by situating it in the context of Manchu culture, rather than the traditional Chinese-Western dichotomy, Swen brings a new perspective to well-trod historiographical ground... This work represents a significant shift in our understanding of cultural conflicts in early modern China." -Ashleigh Ikemoto, Georgia College and State University, The Journal of Asian Studies, 187-188.
"Swen's persistent focus on individuals (particularly emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng) and their family network also serves to explain how occurrences that elude historical patterns such as coincidences, personal choices, and unpredictable events can all contribute to shape history. It is in this light that Swen recommends historians to reassess the rise and fall of the Jesuit mission to China so as to provide a fresh perspective on a narrative otherwise focused on its inevitable failure. Such an original and well-documented argument, alongside the author’s meticulous analysis of the sources, are only two of the elements that make Swen’s study a valuable and welcome contribution to the field." -Giulia Falato, University of Oxford, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 692-695.
"The combination of striking success and dramatic failure of the Jesuit missionaries as advisors to the seventeenth and eighteenth century Chinese imperial court has long attracted the attention of historians. Jesuit Mission and Submission by Swen Litian 孫立天 represents the latest effort to explain the dynamics of this unique historical relationship. As a revision of his dissertation (2019) and as a first book, it is a very impressive effort. The most successful part of the book deals with Swen’s attempt to show how the nature of the Beijing Jesuits’ relationship to the imperial court changed at the time of the Ming–Qing transition." -D. E. Mungello, Baylor University, Monumenta Serica, Journal of Oriental Studies
Litian Swen holds a Ph.D (2019) from The City University of New York. He has published several articles in Chinese on Chinese History.